All Episodes

The Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon, will present a discussion on the 27th Path of the qabalistic Tree of Life leading from Hod to Netsach, This is the lowest of three cross members uniting opposite pillars on The Tree. Gareth Knight considers it "The main girder of the personality." It connects the sphere of the Intellect with the sphere of Natural Forces, so sparks are bound to fly. The Path is attributed to the planet Mars and the Tarot trump "The Blasted Tower." This prompted Gareth Knight to relate the Path to the mysterious alchemical allegory "The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosencreutz;" which he summarizes in the "Practical Guide." So tune in and we will walk the Path to "The House of God."  

The Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the twenty-eighth Path of the Tree of Life, which leads up from Yesod, realm of the Collective Unconscious of the microcosm, to Netsach, the realm of natural forces of the macrocosm. In the Hermetic Tradition this Path is attributed to Aquarius and the Tarot Trump "The Star," however, Aleister Crowley was moved to interchange The Star with The Emperor. We will discuss his reasons for this and its implications. This is an important symbolic path for neo-pagans and those who venerate The Goddess. So, tune in and we will try to walk this Path both ways.

The Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the symbolism and meaning of the 29th Path of the Qabalistic Tree of Life leading from Malkuth to Netsach. This is the Path of the Moon (Tarot trump) and is a watery route up to the seventh Sphere of Netsach (Venus) which is attributed to the realm of Nature and natural philosophy. Once again our texts will be Dion Fortune's "Mystical Qabalah" and Gareth Knight's "Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism." We will also summarize our own version of this Path as recorded in our special Pathworkings DVD used in our Associate Member Program. In our system the Goddess Astarte resides in the Temple of Netsach and Her divine body contains all the psychic centers (chakras) of the Lightning Flash. So, if you want to get up close and magical with Mother Nature tune in and we'll pay The Goddess a visit.

The Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the 30th Path of the Hermetic-Qabalistic Tree of Life. This is the Path of "Resh" and The Sun, called "The Collective Intelligence." It is the first Path in which we employ "Kusor's Boat," a magical device unique to the O.T.A. derived from ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian myth sources (also inspired by A. Merritt's "Ship of Ishtar"). The Boat enables us to fly over Paths already walked in the astral journeys at the base of The Tree. The Boat is shown in our Pathworking video available to Associate Members. Our text will again be Gareth Knight's "Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism, Vol. 2," and "Adamson's Quest" from THE SEVENTH RAY. This Path leads from Yesod, the Lunar sphere of memory, emotion and astral foundation to Hod, the Sphere of Mercury, reason, science and positive Solar-zodiacal progress. It questions the male and female spiritual perspectives and raises the current debate between techno-industrial progress vs. environmental and eco-centered spiritual philosophies, along with collectivism vs. individualism. So, tune in and find out about star-people and earth people, and why the Hermetic soul is androgynous.
 

The Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion of the Thirty-first Path of the Tree of Life from Malkuth to Hod, reviewing its esoteric meaning and symbolism in the Hermetic Qabalah. This is the Path of Fire leading up the Pillar of Severity to the Mercurial Sphere of Hod. Texts for our talk will be Gareth Knight's Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism, Dion Fortune's Mystical Qabalah, and Poke Runyon's Adamson's Quest. We will also review our video presentation of this Pathworking in our DVD offered to Associate Members. So, tune in and "Walk the hot sands" of the Astral Plane.

On Thursday March 13th, 2025 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will deliver his 2007 lecture: The Great Secret of the Freemasons and Rosicrucians. Poke is known as Frater Thabion in the Rosicrucian community and is a 32 KCCH in Scottish Rite. This lecture discusses The Lost Word of Masonry, the concept of Deism, the Great I am, the total mystical unity of the Universal Mind and the profound underlying spiritual connection of the world's Abrahamic religions. You can obtain a published copy of The Great Secret in The Seventh Ray Book III available from Pokerunyon.com but listen to this presentation for a full understanding of these philosophical concepts.

The Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the symbolism and meaning of the Thirty-second Path on the Tree of Life. This lecture will include a review of our special Path Working on this subject which we have recorded for members and associate members. The Tarot symbolism, the relation to Saturn in the Cube of Space, and the traditional qabalistic associations will be covered. Text for this lecture are The Garden of Pomogranets by Israel Regardie and Volume Two of Gareth Knight's Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism. Tune in and start the journey upward.    

The Hermetic Hour will feature a talk by host Poke Runyon on Magical Pathworkings. These are hypnotic guided tours of the astral plane, "inner plane projections," intended to introduce the magical students to deeply significant symbolism from mythology and traditional occult correspondences. The kabbalistic Tree of Life is the road map. The central idea here is that the student confronts the symbol or archetype and receives personal knowledge he or she might not obtain by conscious study. They are astral initiations. We will look at the history of this type of working, the Eastern version that influenced the O.T.A.'s pathworking system, and we will even take you on a mini-pathworking, so you can experience some of the effect. This is an important part of traditional magical lodge instruction that is not well understood. Tune in and take the journey.                                      

On February 20th, 2025 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will narrate the astral journey or flight from Malkuth to Chesed using our Soul Travel Boat, which enables us to fly over the previously traveled 29th path, and Sphere of Netsach; beyond which lies the Great Wheel of Eternity that takes us back thru the Astrological Ages to the Times of Atlantis where we will meet Dagon the elder god from the Stars. Who shows us how to open our third-eye. This is a magical journey you won't want to miss, so join us on PodBean, or You-Tube and sail the dream-skies of the astral with us. -- Thabion
 

Hermetic Hour host Poke Runyon will discuss "Divination for Magicians." We are qualifying this subject to exclude a number of techniques not often used in magick. We will lead off with Tarot, discussing its actual origins, the 19th century "Egyptian origin" myth, how it was thought to be "older than the kabbalah," and its subsequent influence on modern Hermetic "qabalah" -- from Eliphas Levi to Paul Foster Case. We will discuss various Tarot designs, and their particular attributes. We'll move on to Geomancy, discussing its ancient origins, and characteristics -- briefly comparing it to the Chinese I-Ching. We'll be taking calls on this subject, so join us and see what the future holds in store.

The Hermetic Hour for Thursday October 7th, 2021 -- will feature a dramatic reading of the first chapter of "The Tomb of Prester John" a new magical adventure novel by Hermetic Hour host Poke Runyon. The protagonist of the story is the same Indiana Jonesish anthropologist Poke created and portrayed in his film "Beyond Lemuria" where we saw Doc Roland exploring the ruined city of Nan Modal. In this new adventure Roland and his beautiful belly-dancing lady archaeologist Sophie Nasrani, go in search of the fabulous tomb of the legendary medieval priest-king Prester John. They have a 12th century letter written by Prester John to emperor Frederick Barbarossa and an antique magic lantern to decode the script. They know the tomb is located somewhere east of Samarkand but Sophie must evoke the prophetess Jezebel in a full moon ritual dance. Throughout their adventure they are stalked by Sophie's former lover Khalil ibn Iblis, a terrorist who believes he is the reincarnation of Hassan Sabbah and has revived the cult of the Assassins.
As the tale progresses we will air it chapter by chapter on the Hermetic Hour, so if you want to get in at the beginning, tune in tonight and get ready for High Adventure.

The Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the vast Central Asian kingdom of Tartaria and the medieval legend of Prester John, the mysterious Christian monarch who was said to have ruled a huge empire West of China and to have written letters to the Pope and kings in Europe. Mentioned by Marco Polo and other European travelers to the Orient Prester John  was a political Holy Grail quest for Crusaders seeking allies against the Muslims. But John and his kingdom was never found -- and yet there may have been a Christian king and warlord in Central Asia in medieval times as new historical research and archeology are discovering. In Medieval times the boundaries of Tartaria stretched from China to Eastern Europe; an area defined by the conquests of Genghis Khan and his sons. Only recently have we come to realize that Europeans have been living in Central Asia for thousands of years. Many of the Central Asian tribes and even nations riding under Mongol banners in the middle ages were actually  Caucasian Christians descendants of the ancient Scythians, Armenians and Indo-Europeans. The real history of Central Asia has been suppressed and mistranslated. We will suggest who the real Prester John might have been. So put on your fedora, snap your bullwhip and lets follow the Silk Road to adventure.
Be captivated by the myths and suppressed histories that connect the Scythians, Armenians, and Indo-Europeans to a Euro-Caucasian presence in these ancient lands. Uncover the historical and archaeological discoveries that challenge traditional narratives, and embark on a journey to restore the lost truths about Prester John and the influence of Western civilization in Central Asia.

This is the Hermetic Hour for Thursday February 6th, 2025 -- featuring a dramatic reading of chapters Seven, Eight and Nine of "The Tomb of Prester John" a magical adventure novel by Hermetic Hour host Poke Runyon. The protagonist of the story is the same Indiana Jonesish anthropologist Poke created and portrayed in his film "Beyond Lemuria" where we saw Doc Roland exploring the ruined city of Nan Modal. In this new adventure Roland and his beautiful belly-dancing lady archaeologist Sophie Iskandar, go in search of the fabulous tomb of the legendary medieval priest-king Prester John. They have a 12th century letter written by Prester John to emperor Frederick Barbarossa and an antique magic lantern to decode the script. They know the tomb is located somewhere in eastern Turkey but Sophie must evoke the prophetess Jezebel in a full moon ritual dance. Throughout their adventure they are stalked by Sophie's former lover Khalil ibn Iblis, a terrorist who believes he is the reincarnation of Hassan Sabbah and has revived Sabbah’s medieval cult of the Assassins. The first six chapters are already recorded in our archives and will be continuing this year on the Hermetic Hour
 
 

Hermetic Hour host Poke Runyon will launch a discussion on what is commonly called "Astral Projection." We will use what we still consider the best occult manual on the subject: "The Art of Astral Projection," by Ophiel, as our starting point. We'll mention path workings (Inner Plane projection) vs. the OOBE, comparing these methods with Tibetan practice (po-wah yoga and throng-jug yogas). Following on Jack London's "Star Rover", we'll examine self-hypnosis and sensory deprivation. We'll mention Monroe and Hemi-Sync, (binaural beats), discuss "Music of the Spheres," and Remote Viewing. Tune in, turn on, and get out!  

On January 23rd the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present an essay "The Jesus Myth" - Christianity's only hope -- which will be a counter argument to the evangelical Christian position that the so-called Jesus Myth based on the Naassene Document, a 1st or 2nd century Gnostic Christian scripture, presenting Jesus as the last of a recurring cycle of dieing Pagan Gods resurrected by Pagan Goddesses such as: Tammuz and Ishtar, Osiris and Isis, Baal and Astarte, Venus and Adonis, etc., culminating in Jesus and Mary Magdalene. The fundamentalists contend that this idea undermines the historical Jesus (they reinforce this by mixing in other Gnostic Christian views that Jesus did not die on the cross, which was not a part of the original Naassene proposition.)
    As Valentinian Gnostic Rosicrucians, we contend that the Jesus Myth as set forth in the Naassene Document is not only valid as scripture, but that it represents Christianity's only hope of survival against its awful record, both Orthodox and Protestant,of exploitation, prejudicial persecution, hypocrisy and patriarchalism. So tune and help us defend our tradition.
Music Credits:
Opening: Seian by Ali Kesanto
Closing: Sneaking Around the Mansion by John Abbot